Justine Greening

MPs from all sides call for abortion law in N Ireland to be relaxed
Letter follows UN declaration that forcing women in Northern Ireland to travel to England is human rights infringement

Jane Martinson
Wed 7 Mar 2018

More than 100 MPs and peers from all parties have written to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, calling for women in Northern Ireland to be allowed access to abortion services locally rather than having to come to England.

The letter, signed by 131 parliamentarians including eight Conservatives such as the former education secretary Justine Greening and the former chancellor Ken Clarke, the former Liberal leader David Steel and the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, follows a UN declaration that forcing women to travel for an abortion is an infringement of their human rights.

Abortion is still illegal in this country
Fifty years after the Abortion Act, women are still dying from being denied basic services, write activists from Feminist Fightback

November 15, 2017

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Act, activists from Feminist Fightback found ourselves dressed as flight attendants, transforming the London Overground into the cabin of an Abortion Airlines Boeing 67. We distributed our own version of inflight safety cards and presented a special inflight safety announcement, advising passengers that ‘the exits…lead to an unsafe backstreet abortion and possible death…please assume the brace position for the duration of this Abortion Airlines flight”. We were met with whoops and cheers from passengers who, like us, are appalled by the fact that the Act still does not extend to the North of Ireland and that at least two people per day have to board a flight to travel to England to terminate a pregnancy. Fifty years on from the Abortion Act there are still people living in the UK denied this basic human right. This includes many migrants who, as NHS charges are introduced and health workers legally obligated to check immigration status, are deterred from accessing both abortion and maternity services.

A barrister has claimed that Northern Ireland's abortion legislation has "saved 100,000 lives". He was speaking for the Christian Action and Research in Education (CARE), on the second day of an appeal relating to the laws.

after 50 years of fighting, northern ireland’s abortion rights movement finally has its day in court
And at the awards.

Roisin Lanigan
Oct 24 2017

For over 50 years Northern Irish women have languished behind the rest of the UK when it comes to accessing safe, legal, free abortions, but that might just finally come to an end. Today, London's Supreme Court will hear a landmark appeal against Northern Ireland's strict, draconian abortion laws, where termination of pregnancy is classed as a criminal offence punishable with up to life imprisonment. Today's appeal, which takes place just a week after Belfast's rally for choice, will argue that the current laws in place, which do not allow terminations even on the grounds of fatal foetal abnormality, are incompatible with international human rights.

The UK government has revealed plans to provide free abortion services in England for women from Northern Ireland, which has some of Europe’s most restrictive laws on terminations.

The government announced a change of policy in June in an attempt to head off a Tory rebellion in a vote on the Queen’s speech. Dozens of Conservatives had suggested to whips that they would vote on an amendment spearheaded by the Labour MP Stella Creasy to give Northern Irish women free access to termination.

The government’s abortion commitment is good news. But it’s not enough

As long as women from Northern Ireland have to travel for terminations they are still hugely disadvantaged. We need the law at home to change too

Elizabeth Nelson
Thursday 29 June 2017

Abortion for women in Northern Ireland has become a high stakes issue in British politics for perhaps the first time ever, potentially exposing the first faultlines in the young Tory-DUP agreement to maintain a weakened Conservative government. Following Stella Creasy’s attempt to amend the Queen’s speech, the government has offered a new commitment to fund abortions for Northern Irish women on the NHS in England and Wales. It’s a welcome step and will potentially have an immediate impact on widening access to basic healthcare for UK citizens who have long been denied this right.

Ministers announce funding for NI women to have abortions in England, in attempt to head off Tory revolt in Queen’s speech vote
Stella Creasy

Jessica Elgot and Henry McDonald
Thursday 29 June 2017

A decades-long struggle to give Northern Irish women access to terminations on the NHS in mainland Britain was unexpectedly won in the space of 24 hours on Thursday, as the UK government dramatically changed its policy in an attempt to head off a damaging Tory rebellion on the Queen’s speech.

Dozens of Conservative MPs were understood to have expressed to Tory whips their support for an amendment by the Labour MP Stella Creasy to allow Northern Irish women access to NHS-funded abortions in Great Britain.